The Kunoichi's Story
by MissFaerieKaiti
Summary: Kind of a 'missing scene' type-thing from True or False. We can see what Kaida has had to put up with during some of the ToF chapters. OC-centric. Read and review, please! x3


**Whew, this took a really long time to type out, but here is what Kaida has had to go through in my story True or False, starting where chapter seven leaves off and ending somewhere around chapter thirty-six or thirty-seven, the latter of which I have yet to whip up. xP I recommend that you read True or False first, or at least the first few chapters; this story might make more sense if you do. ;3**

**The song used closer to the end is Sound the Bugle, from the movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. That movie has some really emotional songs, emotional in more ways than sadness and stuffz. xD**

**I hope you like it! I own... Pretty much all the characters except Taylor's OCs, unless you see mentions of canon characters somewhere in here. I don't own Konoha or anything canon to do with Konoha, nor do I own Taylor's super awesome OCs, how's that? ;P**

* * *

When Kaida slowly regained consciousness, she was being carried bridal-style into some building. Her quick, blurry glimpse of the sky told her it was night (but whether it was the same night or a different one, she didn't know), but artificial light flooded from the building, stinging her eyes.

"You're awake!" The voice, however delighted it seemed, sounded poisonous at the same time, and add to that a nails-on-chalkboard impression. Not the greatest voice to wake up to, even if it only said two words.

It took a little while for Kaida to remember more than the fact that it had been nighttime last she knew. But slowly, it all came back. She had been attacked while trying to gather firewood to keep the campfire she, Hotori, and Kyra were using burning. A very creepy laugh was the last thing she remembered before losing consciousness.

So where was she now?

She felt herself get placed in a sitting position in an overstuffed chair. She blinked hard, ordering the world to focus for her.

The room at first glance looked pretty normal. In front of her was a coffee table, and across from that was a couch. The man who had carried her took his seat there.

But there was something sinister in the air that put Kaida on her guard as soon as she had woken up enough to feel it. Not to mention the people she saw out of the corners of her eyes, all aiming bloodthirsty expressions towards her.

"Explain, now," Kaida said, scowling at the man. "Who, what, where, et cetera."

The man grinned. "You speak to me with courage. Not many do so. If you knew who I was—"

"Enlighten me, and skip the small talk."

The man laughed, the same cold, dark, freakish laughter Kaida had heard just before she fell unconscious. She had to get out of here.

She stood, but then she was quickly and roughly shoved back into a sitting position by firm hands on her shoulders and upper arms. She glared up at the people connected to the hands – four people, two on each side of her.

The man held up his hand and the four people (ninja, actually, judging from their headbands, though they had nothing but a slash across the middle for their village symbol) backed off. Kaida could feel them hovering, however, waiting for her to make another move.

"I am Denji, leader of the Ikari clan," he said smoothly. "It is a pleasure to welcome you to my home, Miss..."

Kaida didn't say anything.

"May I ask your name?"

"No."

The man tsk-tsked, shaking his head. "Then I shall be forced to guess. Your headband tells me that you are from the Tree Village—"

"Leaf Village," Kaida corrected icily. "But forget about my name. What am I doing here, and what do you want with me?"

"You do not bear any obvious traits of a certain clan," Denji continued as though Kaida hadn't said anything. "You are not Hyuga, nor Akimichi, nor any of the others of Konohagakure. However, I'm sure you are nothing less than jonin. Perhaps you are Anbu, but left your mask at home?" His voice laced with laughter at the end.

Kaida stood again and again was pushed back into her seat.

A slow, wicked smile spread across Denji's lips. "You would do well to hear me out, Miss Nobody."

"Get to the point," Kaida said through gritted teeth.

Denji's gaze turned icier than before and he focused his attention on Kaida's hand. Kaida followed his gaze but found nothing unusual. She held no weapons (and, with a sinking feeling, she realized that her weapons pack had been taken away from her), and the only thing on her hand was her wedding and engagement ring. She looked back up at Denji.

"You are here because I have an invitation to extend," Denji told her coldly. "Marry me and turn your back on your previous life." His tone clearly implied that it was more than a simple offer that could be refused.

Kaida glared at him. "I'd rather die."

Denji frowned. "You do not know me, so allow me to explain something about myself: I always get what I want."

Kaida leaped from her seat as fast as she could, managing to slip through the first four's grasp and push a couple others out of her way. But before she could even find the exit, she was captured by about a half a dozen more Ikari ninja.

Denji walked in front of her, his face twisted into a hideous scowl. She glared right back at him.

"Perhaps you declined because of attachments to your current husband," he said, his voice practically drenched in poison. "My people can easily take care of him if that's what is holding you back."

"You're too late for that," Kaida growled.

Denji rubbed his face thoughtfully, his scowl draining away slightly, though not completely. "So you are a widow already, mm?"

"You can't keep me here!" Kaida said, struggling to keep herself from shouting. "Either I'll find a way out on my own, or my friends will come for me!"

Denji laughed evilly again. "Darling, that is exactly what I'm hoping for."

He snapped his fingers and spoke to the ninja that were holding onto Kaida. "Knock her unconscious."

Kaida struggled violently. She got a few scratches, but nothing serious for a while.

But then she felt several sharp pricks in the back of her neck. Her heart slowed and her breathing grew labored. Then her system turned off completely, though slowly, and her mind was the last to go.

They weren't knocking her unconscious – they were killing her, stopping her heart.

She would see Shikamaru soon.

* * *

Kaida sat up wearily, then gasped and lay back down quickly, pain ripping through her side.

"I suggest you hold still unless you want to slow your healing process," a voice told her sternly.

For a moment, Kaida thought she was back in the Konoha hospital, and she shuddered, immediately plotting the best way to get back home as soon as possible.

But then she realized that where she probably was would make normal hospitals look like a paradise.

How was she alive? Hadn't they killed her?

All Kaida could see was a white ceiling, but as she slowly regained consciousness even more, her senses sharpened, and she could smell the all too familiar scents of doctors and blood and, worst, medicine. She also didn't seem to be wearing her own clothes. She couldn't tell what they looked like (her side injury preventing her from moving much), but they felt like the normal hospital clothes she was expected to wear in Konoha's hospital.

An older woman came into her line of vision with a cup in her hands. "There is no need to fear me. You are in the tamest part of the Ikari residence. Few enter my doors, but those who do must always behave themselves, and not act like the selfish, cruel brutes they are outside these walls."

"Who...?" Kaida tried, but pain ripped through her side again at the simple word.

"I am Haranu, healer in the Ikari clan." The woman slid an arm under and across Kaida's shoulders, lifting her up slightly so she was reclining. Then she brought the cup to Kaida's lips.

Kaida pressed her lips together and turned her head away.

"I daresay they will want me to slip some kind of drug to make you weak into your foods sooner or later," Haranu said, sternness creeping into her voice again, "but all that is in this is an herb that will help you to heal more quickly."

Kaida scowled stubbornly. Now that she wasn't simply lying on her back, she could see more of the room. And it looked just like a hospital. She couldn't identify everything, but she could see other white beds, needles, those plastic (or whatever they were made of) gloves and masks, and more.

She needed to get out of here. Even a lowly prison cell was better than a hospital place like this that made her want to hurl. And she didn't believe Haranu in the least. This place was probably worse than any other place in the Ikari home.

Haranu sighed and gently laid Kaida back again. "Very well, young lady. But I do hope you don't intend to starve yourself when I try to feed you later, or I shall have to force the food into your system another way."

A few moments of silence followed as the woman busied herself in another part of the hospital room.

"Welcome, master," Kaida then heard Haranu say.

Denji came into her line of view, and she gave him her best glare.

"How is she doing?" Denji asked.

"She is healing at a normal rate, though she refuses medicine to heal her more quickly, my lord."

Denji frowned at Kaida and shook his head. "Your teammates never came. It looks like your village abandoned you. Abandon them." He leaned in close. "Marry me."

She spit at him, and he jerked upright, scowling and wiping his face.

"A team is preparing to pick up a certain package from your home, Kaida Nara," he snapped. "We'll see how stubborn you are when your son's life is on the line. You can stop the team with a simple yes, before they leave to fetch Shikami. Or kill him."

He left her sight and moments later, a door slammed shut so hard that it rattled some of the equipment in the room.

A feeling of dread crept in, chilling Kaida from head to toe. His last words echoed in her mind. 'Or kill him... or kill him...'

She had to stop him, somehow. How had he even known about Shikami?

"My, my," Haranu said. Kaida imagined her shaking her head in distaste. "He does have a temper. It would not be wise to continue refusing him, my dear."

It would not be wise for him to kill her son. Kaida would personally see to it that he suffered the same fate.

* * *

Over the course of the next five or six days (Kaida based her body's clock on Denji's daily appearances, having little accurate sense of time otherwise in the closed-off hospital room), all Kaida concentrated on was healing as quickly as she could. Haranu managed to get Kaida to choke down about three cups of the healing thing, one every other day, and so long as Kaida had no reason to believe they were poisoning her food, she also ate some of what they provided.

Soon she was able to sit up and speak normally without unbearable discomfort, although she tried to appear that her health was returning more slowly than it actually was. Most of her days were passed by either trying to sleep or talking to Haranu.

The old woman didn't seem in the least as heartless as her master, but Kaida still monitored what she said, unwilling to give out any information that might prove even the least bit vital. Most of the time, she was able to keep the topic on Haranu and her clan, and she deflected as many questions about herself as possible.

"My people are always out for blood," Haranu said. "I am the only doctor because no one else wishes to know how to save lives, only how to destroy them."

In spite of this, Kaida could on occasion detect a more aggressive side of the woman. She was not as different from her people as she would like Kaida to believe.

Denji would appear, he would each time ask for her hand and allegiance. Each time, she came up with different creative ways to say no.

Then once she awoke with the sensation that something was different. The feeling bugged her for quite a while before she found its source: her ring was missing.

"Where's my ring?" Kaida asked the moment Haranu walked in.

"Good morning to you, too, young Kaida," Haranu answered.

"Hi, Haranu. Where's my ring?"

"Lord Denji requested that it be brought to him," Haranu said, throwing together a meal – probably Kaida's breakfast. Kaida watched carefully what she put into it and saw something unidentifiable being thrown into her drink. "Far be it from me to question his orders."

She set the meal on the side table next to Kaida's bed. Kaida sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, exaggerating the amount pain she felt in her side.

Haranu watched sympathetically. "Is that still giving you trouble? Your health check yesterday said it should be mostly healed by now."

"My body apparently doesn't know that yet," Kaida replied, adding a grimace as though a flash of severe pain had gone through her side. She began eating, but she didn't touch her drink until Haranu turned her back for something. She quickly sloshed the cup's contents into the soil of a nearby plant and pretended to be drinking it when Haranu returned.

She wasn't sure what the effects were supposed to be, or even if it was supposed to have a bad effect or not. However, once she had finished eat, she lay back down and watched the ceiling in silence for a while.

She had to get out. That was one thing that had run consistently through her mind over the last few days.

She rolled over to lay on her unhurt side and watch Haranu as she went through her daily routine.

Slowly, Kaida eased off the covers and quietly rested her bare feet on the cold floor, keeping an eye on Haranu to make sure she kept her back turned. Kaida slowly and quietly stood and began stepping softly over to the door.

Haranu began to turn.

Kaida ran, ordering her side wound to keep quiet and stop hurting. It throbbed as though she had gained an extra heart lower in her rib cage.

Within mere seconds, Haranu screamed, "SHE'S ESCAPING!"

Kaida jumped up onto the high ceiling and nearly fell back to the ground before taking hold of it with her chakra. Some people might look up and see her crawling as swiftly as she could, but Kaida had learned not only that hiding in plain sight was most often the best choice, but also that people rarely looked up.

Several people passed below her, but not one directed their attention to the ceiling. If only Kaida knew how to navigate the building, her chances of making it out would skyrocket.

Someone saw her. Fortunately, he was alone, for the moment.

He pointed up at her and opened his mouth to shout to his companions, but she leaped onto him and then, with a few quick handsigns, froze him where he lay. She leaped up to the ceiling again and traveled as quickly as she could.

"SHE'S ON THE CEILING! REPEAT: SHE'S TRAVELING ON THE CEILING!"

The holler came from behind Kaida. She chose to ignore it, too late now to shut him up.

She straightened from her crawling position to hang from simply the soles of her feet, and she ran as fast as she could. If only she could find the exit!

Something crashed into her and she found herself hitting the floor and then rolling head over heels. Her world darkened.

_No!_ she shouted at herself. _You will not pass out! Keep MOVING!_

She righted herself, blinked and breathed hard to restore her consciousness, and took off running again, slamming into more people who tried to stop her. She was almost unaware of each new scratch she got almost every time she passed someone.

Someone planted himself directly in front of a door at the end of one of the corridors, and her heart leaped. That must be the exit if it was worth guarding!

It was Denji. He threw several kunai at her and she took time from her directly forward run to dodge as many as possible. A few still embedded themselves in her, however.

She pulled one from her shoulder to use against him. He leaped to the side to avoid being impaled in the heart, and she jerked the door open.

Her heart sank. More corridors.

She pivoted, grabbed Denji, and held the kunai to his throat. Would-be attackers stopped dead in their tracks, eyeing her and Denji and waiting for orders from their lord.

"Tell your clan to back off, and then direct me to the outside," Kaida ordered, gripping Denji tightly and pressing the kunai to his throat.

He swallowed against the pressure, then chuckled. "I was right; you are an amazing warrior. My offer still stands. Join the Ikari clan as my wife. We will lead it together."

"That's not what I said," Kaida growled. "Call off your people and tell me how to leave this place. Or would you rather be headless for your wedding, waiting for a bride who will never show up?"

The ninja shifted uneasily, their eyes fixated on their leader, waiting for his command. The look in their eyes plainly said they would like to rip Kaida open regardless of their master's predicament, but they feared him too much to do so.

Kaida shifted her position so that she no longer had an open corridor to her back, but a solid wall now.

"Stand down," Denji finally said quietly, but loudly enough so that his clan heard. They didn't look happy about it, but they did as he said.

"My way out?" Kaida prompted.

"Follow this hallway the way you were headed originally, then when it ends take a right turn. That leads to the room we were in the first night you were here. Use the only other door there, and then the only other door to _that_ room, and that will lead you outside," Denji muttered.

Kaida backed down the hall, forcing Denji to follow. "Thanks. I'll release you when I'm outside."

She continued slowly, trying to watch everything at once. Taking Denji along was difficult, because he kept tripping, and she was forced to literally drag him after a time. She became more aware of her injuries as they screamed for relief.

Finally, her bare feet touched grass and she had to squint in the sunlight. Real, genuine, warm sunlight; earthy, tickling grass; dancing, playful wind... A grin spread across her face – the first since her last night with Kyra and Hotori, she realized.

Before releasing Denji, she had one more question. "Where is my ring?"

He dug around in his pockets and held it out for her. She took it, shoved Denji towards his home, and ran. She slipped her ring back on her finger as she fled.

But then she felt several new, sharp pains appear in her back, and she pitched forward. She didn't have to try and twist her head around to see what had happened. Her guess would be that her back was now covered in arrows or kunai or shuriken, or perhaps another weapon or a variety of them.

She could do nothing about the unconsciousness slowly taking over again.

She had been so close.

* * *

When Kaida awoke again, she found herself lying on her stomach in a bedroom, empty of people. She sat up and told her protesting cuts to shut up. They responded by nearly making her pass out again, but she managed to stay upright as she slipped from the bed and surveyed her surroundings.

Mostly, it looked like a normal bedroom. But she quickly realized she was still in the Ikari residence.

For one thing, the air still felt coldly sinister as the first night she had been there. A headband lay on the table next to the bed, empty of symbols but for a slash across the middle. A portrait of Denji Ikari hung on the wall. And a few other minor hints.

Kaida limped over to her window and looked for how to open it. It didn't have any ways to slide or flip or anything.

She punched it, hard, and only wound up hurting her knuckles. The window held.

And, looking at her hand, she realized her ring was gone again.

She hated Denji. With a passion. A very, very strong passion.

She would have kicked it had she felt stronger and had shoes on to add hardness to her kick.

She painfully called up chakra that didn't want to respond, and she coated the window in ice, again nearly fainting with the effort. Another hard punch did nothing again.

Now breathing heavily and still trying to ignore the intense waves of pain passing through her body, she looked around for anything else she could use on the window.

The room had quite a few items in it, but nothing she could use to try and break the window. The portrait didn't even have a frame, so she couldn't try and use that.

So she went to the door and tried turning the knob. Locked, of course.

She used her other hand to punch the door, but it didn't splinter. She only resulted in making both her hands ache.

She gave in to the darkness that crowded her vision and crumpled to the floor.

The next time she regained consciousness, she was back on the bed in the same room.

The door opened and a man stepped in, closing the door behind him too quickly for Kaida to even try and do something to escape.

When he saw that she was awake, he stayed where he was. "After your attempt to escape, Lord Denji decided you needed to be punished," he informed her. "You will no longer be cared for in the hospital room, and you will receive one daily meal. You're lucky you didn't wind up in the dungeon, but you're confined to this room."

Kaida slowly pushed herself to a standing position next to the bed. She didn't say anything, however; she simply glared at him.

"And..." The man swallowed hard, like he was expecting her to punish him the way Denji would probably if bad news had been delivered to him. She braced herself, wondering what it could be, but she half didn't want to hear it.

"Another step was taken, and my master just received word confirming that it had been successful," the man said, not seeming eager to get to the point. He groped around behind him for the doorknob, looking ready to bolt as soon as he'd told her. "Your son was killed."

Kaida barely even registered when the man left in a hurry, slamming the door shut behind him.

She sank to her knees, hardly noticing the pain from the scratches on her knees.

Denji had followed through with his threat? Shikami died?

_Sound the bugle now; play it just for me_

_As the seasons change, remember how I used to be_

_Now I can't go on; I can't even start_

_I've got nothing left – just an empty heart_

Tears streamed down her face. She hadn't cried immediately over Shikamaru's death, but now she sobbed helplessly over Shikami's.

It wasn't just the new hollow feeling burning in her chest, though that was half of it. It was guilt. If she had never left him alone, if she had never gone back to her life as a ninja, Shikami would still be alive and well. It was her fault Shikami had been killed.

She turned around and laid her arms on the bed, then placed her head on her arms, crying uncontrollably. Why did the two people most precious to her have to be ripped away?

Nothing but this could have torn Kaida's will to survive to shreds.

Her daily meal was shoved through a small flap at the bottom of the door that she hadn't noticed before. Not that it made much difference. It was way too small for Kaida to fit through.

She ignored the food, unable to swallow her tears enough to eat even if she wanted to.

A million memories flooded her, mostly memories of her days together with _him_.

The day she made genin and was assigned to a squad with Kyra and Hotori, she had been disappointed that she couldn't be with Shikamaru and Choji, previously her two best friends.

But she had accepted it and even become fast friends with Kyra, also quickly growing to dislike Hotori even more than she had when they were merely classmates. And she had still been able to spend time with Shikamaru and Choji.

When she had learned of Shikamaru's promotion to chunin, she had been elated, even if a little disappointed that she hadn't made the cut as well.

Then when he got back from his first mission as chunin, she had been so relieved that he hadn't suffered the same nearly-fatal fate as some of his squad members. Of course she had been petrified for Choji and Neji, though, as they underwent treatment.

She remembered the first time she had realized he loved her. She had nearly suffocated him in a hug, but for once, he didn't complain.

She had later finally made chunin, and she could've sworn Shikamaru was even more proud of her than she was trying not to be.

A couple years later, she made jonin, and teased him about how she outranked him then. Not even a year after that, he became a jonin as well. She loved him so much.

A couple years after that, Kaida had learned that he had turned down an offer to become an Anbu Blackop. After getting over the shock of first the offer, then the rejection, she had loved him all the more for it. She figured out his reasons behind it: as an Anbu, he would be away from the village more than he was in it, meaning he would have less time to spend lazing around. And it meant he would have less time to spend with her.

Their wedding day had by far been the happiest of her life, and he had kept her laughing most of the way through it. She had refused to get married in white – her gown had been a light purple. Their wedding had been in the Nara clan's territory, amongst the trees and the deer.

The following years had been the happiest she had ever known, filled with joy and laughter. They had had a couple rough times, of course, like any other married couple, but Shikamaru's patience and Kaida's courage and their mutual love had pulled them through.

But then, unbidden, the blackest day of her life flashed in her mind. Shikamaru's death.

And that led to Shikami, and she remembered his recent death, as well.

She ran out of tears. There was nothing more for her to cry over. She fell asleep where she knelt, nightmares flashing in her mind's eye.

_I'm a soldier, wounded so I must give up the fight_

_There's nothing more for me; lead me away_

_...Or leave me lying here..._

With time, her physical wounds healed, though she barely ate enough to survive. She ignored most meals.

But nothing could heal the terrible ache in her heart. If there had been anything sharp in the room, she would have carved out her own heart just to stop the pain.

Denji came in every evening, asking for her hand.

But she never so much as glanced at him, and eventually, he would leave in a huff.

Finally, she stopped eating altogether. She spent most of her time sleeping. No longer haunted by nightmares in her sleep, she found the blank darkness preferable to the gnawing pain at her heart when she was awake.

_Sound the bugle now; tell them I don't care_

_There's not a road I know that leads to anywhere_

_Without a light, I fear that I will stumble in the dark_

_Lay right down and decide not to go on_

"I'm telling you, she'll let herself die!"

Kaida didn't even stir that night when she awoke at the sound of Haranu's voice outside her door. There was simply no point in caring about anything.

"Bah, it won't come to that!" Denji snapped. "She's too smart to let herself die."

"On the contrary, I think she's smart enough to _want_ to die," Haranu insisted. "You went too far in trying to keep her from fighting you."

Denji snorted. "Fat lot of good it's doing me even if she won't die. She's still resisting me."

"Doubtful. She's practically slipped into the role of a rag doll; she won't fight anything. Play with her all you like, and see if I'm wrong. Letting her believe her son is dead has broken her."

Letting her believe? Kaida barely dared to hope she had interpreted that correctly, but she could think of no other explanation. She wasn't sure if that was only wishful thinking, though.

But now she listened with more intensity.

_Then from on high, somewhere in the distance_

_There's a voice that calls, "Remember who you are_

_If you lose yourself, your courage soon will follow_

_So be strong tonight, and remember who you are."_

"Fine!" Denji growled. "How would _you_ handle her, then? Tell her that her son is still alive?"

"She won't have reason to believe you. You would have to provide proof."

"If the team spying on him is right, Shikami will be on his way here any day now, meaning he and his friend will be here in about a week or two. If that's not proof, I would like to know what is."

"Do not threaten her so much, if you wish her acceptance," Haranu advised. "She responded to my gentle touch when she was in the hospital much better than she has with your way of forcing and torturing."

"That's the only way to bend people, with fear! Besides, it was your hospital room she fled from that forced me to take such measures."

"She is much too stubborn," Haranu insisted. "She will never give in if she feels pressured. And I already told you, she probably noticed the powder you told me to put into her drink, and that was the reason she fled. Not all people in this world can be controlled that way."

Denji muttered something unintelligible.

Haranu seemed to ignore him, continuing instead by saying, "Start working on her in a different way, little by little. Stop demanding. Tomorrow when you go in, perhaps instead of insisting she marry you, simply share silence. Try a Beauty-and-the-Beast fairy-tale approach."

A long silence followed, making Kaida almost believe they had left. But then Denji muttered grudgingly, "Very well. I will try your advice, Mother. But I'm going through with my intention of kidnapping her son, in case your method fails as well. She will not risk losing him a second time."

Footsteps sounded, growing dimmer as Haranu and Denji walked away.

Kaida barely heeded Denji's calling Haranu his mom, that surprise being nothing compared to what she was struggling to believe.

Shikami was alive? Of course he was alive! She had had only that messenger's word concerning his death. Why hadn't she realized the lie sooner?

Kaida felt as though she could barely breathe from relief, and she felt much lighter, as though she had just shed a huge and heavy burden.

Any thoughts of sleep abandoned her, and she got up from the bed and paced, unable to hold still. Her excitement growing, she bounced a little with each step.

_Yeah, you're a soldier now_

_Fighting in the battle_

_To be free once more_

_Yeah, that's worth fighting for!_

How had she been so foolish, so gullible? She ought to have known better.

She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and whirled around, but no one was there. She held her breath for a moment, eyes searching for the source of the hand that was still on her shoulder, exuding joy and warmth and comfort and courage.

Then she laughed, actually laughed, for the first time in months.

"Thank you," she told the darkness, grinning. The hand disappeared, but it took with it none of the happiness it had given.

She continued pacing in pure anxious excitement, then hours later she watched the sunrise through her window, the ice having long since melted away. It was beautiful, full of hope and promise for a better future.

She picked up the meal from the day before and ate it while pacing, still unwilling to rest. Though it was cold by now, it was still food, and she inhaled it in seconds.

She tossed the tray back towards the door, dropped onto the floor, and began doing pushups. She would have to be at her best when she broke herself and Shikami free. Oh, and that friend that had been mentioned. Kaida didn't know who it would be (it wouldn't be Ethan, would it? It had been arranged for Shikami to stay with Kyra in Konoha should anything happen to Kaida), but if it was a friend, Kaida would do everything in her power to ensure both children's safety.

When her daily meal had been pushed under the door, Kaida ate that one quickly as well, though she was still hungry when she had finished.

No big deal, though. She began doing sit-ups.

Then she started to wonder what she would say to Denji when he came in. She was in an extremely good mood at the moment, and she didn't want to start focusing on her hatred of him yet.

She rubbed her shoulder where she had felt the hand, and she grinned. She would cross that bridge when she came to it.

* * *

Denji entered the room and quickly closed the door behind him. He looked around for Kaida and found her sitting on the room's desk, grinning at him.

"I hate you, you know that?" she told him.

He blinked. Apparently, he had not been expecting her to be in a good mood, or to even talk to him at all.

"You're a dirty, lying murderer," Kaida continued in a song-song voice, as though she was talking to a child, or was herself a child. Indeed, she still felt as happy and carefree as an innocent child. "I'd still rather die than marry you, and using my son as leverage won't work. I've lost him once; risking losing him again will make no difference in my decision."

If he tried to test her on that, he'd quickly discover her bluff. But she was hoping it wouldn't come to that. She hoped she was a convincing liar.

When Denji started to say something, she cut him off.

"Yep, I know he's alive. You shouldn't have secret conversations outside the door of the one you're talking about."

Again, Denji tried to say something, but Kaida interrupted.

"Sure, you could try and argue that that was a ruse to get me to believe yet another lie, but I am way too convinced that he's alive for you to even attempt to get me to think otherwise." She grinned devilishly. "You may speak now, if you have anything to say."

His face turned red, probably with rage, and he left the room, slamming the door behind him with such force that the clock beside Kaida's bed fell to the floor and the desk she sat on rattled.

She laughed so hard that she nearly toppled off the desk in her mirth.

* * *

Denji didn't visit her again for more than a week, and when he did return, Kaida's playful excitement had dwindled down to her ordinary self: ready to laugh, but not anywhere near the extent she had on Denji's last visit. In fact, she was also ready to glower if he said or did anything she didn't like, which was more than likely to occur.

He glared at her, and she stared back evenly.

"Your son is on his way with two people I believe you know, or at least have heard about. Ethan and Rue. I do not believe that you don't care what happens to any of them."

Kaida's stare slowly morphed into a glare that would've scored a fifteen on a scale of ten.

"To me, however, they are expendable. Marry me, or the girl dies. Then the friend, and then your son."

"What if I don't believe you that they're really on their way?" Kaida retorted. He could easily knock her off her feet by saying something like if that was a risk she'd be willing to take, she'd be responsible for the death of innocent kids.

Apparently, that didn't occur to him. He scowled. "Miss Confident wishes to see in order to believe," he said mockingly. "I will grant that. You may see them for a few moments when they fall unknowingly into my grasp."

* * *

Two days later, a familiar girl was shoved into Kaida's room, followed by Denji. Kaida had never been introduced to her, but she recognized the girl immediately as Rue, Kyra and Sai's daughter.

Kaida rushed forward to catch the girl before she fell. Her eyes were partly open, but she didn't seem to be registering anything. She was bruised and scratched, though not seriously injured.

Kaida glared at Denji.

He waved a hand carelessly in reply. "There you have her, one of your son's teammates. You will be permitted to see Shikami and Ethan later."

"What did you do to her?" Kaida asked, trying to keep her voice volume down but generally failing. She brought Rue to her bed and ripped some of the sheets, applying pressure to a scratch on her neck that was bleeding still.

He glared, losing his earlier coolness. "My people could have done worse. She was wanted dead or alive."

"You're lucky she's alive still, or you wouldn't be!" Kaida fumed. "Why you villains always target the innocent is beyond me."

"Why people like you care about these worthless 'innocent' is beyond my ability of comprehension as well," Denji growled. He jerked Rue from Kaida's grasp and dragged her from the room, slamming the door behind him again.

Kaida gave her window another good, solid punch, as hard as she could. It stayed intact.

The blow, however seemingly useless, did somewhat help her to calm herself, though she would have been calmer had the glass shattered.

She paced in her room again, not settling down for hours. In the evening, Denji appeared to ask her to marry him again, but she refused on the grounds that she had yet to see Ethan and Shikami unharmed.

She paced for a few more hours, then stopped and watched her door. She heard something on the other side.

She hadn't expected Denji to return until at least the next morning, even if he really did have Shikami and Ethan. And was that... scratching noises? No one in the Ikari clan would need to pick her door's lock.

Someone slipped into her room, followed by two others, but Kaida's eyes stayed on the first boy. She rushed forward and threw her arms around him. "Shikami!"

**

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I hope you liked it as much as I did! Maybe it got a bit cliche in some parts, but hopefully not too much. xD;

**Please leave a review and lemme know what chu think! n_n**


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